Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Why Ethical Fashion is not attractive for Most

Being an ethical fashionista is hard work. It requires creativity and a lot of thinking- and altering of old garments to give them a contemporary spin- goes into it. Just because denim jackets are back in fashion don't mean one can simply reach into an older family member's heirloom to find a '93 version of the jacket; the cuts almost certainly have no 2010-street-cred value. You'll simply look like you came right out a Salt-N-Peppa music video!
The point I'm trying to make here is that recycling clothes, an ethical practice (taking into consideration the global warming predicament) by any means, like the recycling of anything requires a little re-engineering. This, along with the fact that some of us would rather don the latest Gucci threads than be caught in an unbranded knitted jersey with Bambi prints all over it, is a reason why ethical fashion seems unattractive to most people. When one goes to fashion week and realises how much people spend on newly designed (mostly awful, matric dance-esque) garments to wear on that one occassion it becomes apparent that old habits are hard for most to ditch. We are so used to spending gazillions on looking good we fail to see how inexpensive being fashionable and simultaneously creative actually is.
Some fashionistas ought to take shopping lessons from less-than-privileged folk who trail downtown Jozi in search for exclusive finds under piles and piles of H&M second hand stuff on sales at the inner city's overcrowded, hawker-sprawling sidewalks.
Actually, I know a few well known Jozi fashionistas who do it and you could never tell until they tell you they do. So, get off that high horse and join the movement for ethical fashion. Going green is not just for tree huggers; fashionistas can do it too.